The survivalist’s guide to fashioning a blade from scraps

As far as useful tools in a jam go, it’s tough to beat the general
practicality of a knife. Whether it’s marking a trail, field dressing an
animal, or defending yourself, a sharp piece of steel on your hip can
solve a number of problems you may face in a survival situation; which
is exactly why so many people maintain a good quality knife in
their EDC (Everyday Carry) loadout. But what if you find yourself stuck
in a long-term survival situation without ready access to a knife?

You could go on without one, or you could make one, using nothing but a few common hand tools and some scrap metal.

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Scrap metal

The
first thing you need to do is find yourself a suitable piece of metal.
While you can usually get a sense of the sort of metal you’re working
with with a visual inspection (stainless steel holds a shine while
carbon steel will brown or rust, for instance), your top priority is
finding a sturdy piece of metal that’s somewhat close to the size and
shape of a knife. The closer it starts in size, the easier a day you’ll
have. For a good survival knife that fits well in my hand, I usually
prefer a piece of metal that’s somewhere between 10 and 12 inches long,
less than a half inch thick, and 1.5 to 2 inches wide, but it may take
some work to cut your piece into those dimensions.

Low carbon
scrap steel is soft and doesn’t make for excellent knives, but in a
pinch, even a rusting blade that needs sharpening is better than no
blade at all.

Tools

There’s
no getting around the need to have a hack saw when working with metal.
In fact, if the scrap metal you locate is too long, it’s the only tool
you can’t do without. Beyond that, all you really need is a metal file or access to plenty of sidewalks or blacktop. Any of the three will do.

Other tools that could help are a C-clamp or vice, sharpie, clips, and sandpaper.

Cut the steel into the general shape of a blade

Use
your hacksaw to cut your scrap steel until it meets your general length
and width requirements. The harder the steel (based on carbon levels
and if it’s been treated) the harder the cutting will be. Be patient and
careful not to hurt yourself. If you need tomake this knife, chances are good no ambulances will be coming if you suffer a nasty gash.

If you don’t have a clamp, you can step on the handle and saw near your feet for leverage.

Once
you’ve got it cut somewhat to shape, saw off a corner to create what
will become the point of the blade. If the steel is too wide to fit into
your hand comfortably, you can keep on hacking to narrow down the
handle portion as well. This is a lot more work, but can also provide a
ridge if you’d like to add a handguard down the road.

The ridge between the handle and blade creates a stop on one side for a handguard when you’re making more elaborate knives.

Grind, grind, grind

If you have a metal file, hold the knife in one hand while carefully using the file to shape the profile of the blade. Be careful,
if you have access to a vice, put the blade in it while you work. If
not, finding a pair of work gloves can help keep the skin on your
fingers.

By using the width of the metal to dictate the size of the blade, you only need to shape one corner.

Once
the rough profile of the blade has been shaped, re-orient how you hold
the knife to work on the blade’s edge. This will take a long time, and
if you’re so inclined, you could spend a whole day or more making one
very pretty, even edge. If you’re in a hurry, however, file it down
until you have a reasonably fine point and a good sharp edge and leave
looking pretty for the guys that aren’t making their own knives out of
garbage.

If you don’t have a metal file, you’re not out of luck.
Sidewalks and black top are very abrasive surfaces, and you can whittle
away at the metal edge of your blade using either with enough patience
and care. This is a great way to shave your knuckles, and you will ruin your driveway, but I’ve managed to fashion a workable blade or two using this method.

Making a handle

Depending
on the tools you have on hand, there are probably rough metal splinters
hanging off the edges of your knife and once your hand gets sweaty (or
bloody) keeping a grip will be impossible. Fortunately, there are lots
of materials that make for decent handles.

You can put some real time in to weave a leather strap, or just tightly wrap 550 cord around the handle.

Lots
of military guys are familiar with making things out of paracord, and
knife handles are no exception. Leather belts, rope, and duct tape are
all excellent knife handle materials. Wrap the material around the
handle of the knife as tightly as you can, overlapping it by however
many layers as necessary to make the handle a comfortable girth.